Where have I been???
Nowhere.
No really, I’ve been here.
I’ve been focusing hard on a couple of things. First, attempting to recover / recalibrate my life with debilitating Long Covid. This means lots of pacing, and less ‘extras’ like blogging. I know the Covid19 National Emergency ends today, but I would like to beg my people to keep protecting yourself – it’s still out there, and the CDC has added info about multisystem organ damage and kids getting sick. I have permanent damage to my spine and ongoing brain damage among other things! And there’s no treatment. SO: please take care of yourselves, mask with KN95 when you’re in crowded places like planes, and let me know if you think you might have Long Covid symptoms, because I’ve been following the patient-led treatments for 3 years. Anyhow, today I’m feeling a little better. And I have something to share.
I’ve been working incredibly hard at my craft – learning to draw like a comic artist with the Kids Comics Unite Intensive Class with the amazing Rivkah LaFille, rewriting a script for the graphic novel I’m hoping to pitch, working on a short comic that’s being published in an anthology (https://zoop.gg/c/comicsfromthekitchen) with author Rowena Zahnrei… and an even bigger collab with her – a trilogy of picture-book length comics about Nicki and Ricky, two neurodivergent kids investigating the natural world. In this trilogy: BIRDS!
We finished the first draft of Nicki and Ricky: The Mystery of the Shell Pile about six months ago, but hadn’t decided how to sell it. Then we were invited to join a Kids Crowdfundr event this June (eep, next month) and decided: WHY NOT?? So we’ll be boosting our project and trying to get *funding* to do the next two books (The Hummingbird Conundrum and Puzzle of Toothy Ducks)! Because I’ve upped my skills, I decided (ulp) to redraw the first book as well. LOTS TO DO!!
The campaign will be running for the month of June, and hopefully fund us to finish the next two books more quickly than I could if I were drawing them without presale support.
Stay up to date with this project here: https://sarahesteinberg.com/nicki-and-ricky-crowdfundr-newsletter
And I hope you’ll sign up to help us fund this super fun trilogy – or share it with someone who will enjoy it!